10 Classic Rock Bands That Got Better After Selling Out

Def Leppard's sell-out period was so seemless that it's hard to pin down. It almost seems silly to lump Def Leppard into the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene, but their beginnings ran essentially parallel with bands like Diamond Head and Iron Maiden.

At the early stages, the band had more sonic similarities with bands like AC/DC and Led Zeppelin than a typical pop outfit, but the band could feel change in the air once they hooked up with producer Mutt Lange. Coming off of monster albums like Back in Black, Lange dared the band to aim bigger than their typical hard rock audience.

Once Pyromania came out, more radio-friendly elements started to make their way into the band's sound, from layered vocal harmonies to a more cleaned up guitar sound. Many early fans may have felt burned at first, but the actual tunes on the record were some of the most infectious the rock genre had to offer.

With the follow up Hysteria going in an even more commercial direction, the band created a record that could hold its own in nearly any genre. Def Leppard may have dove head first into their poppy sound, but no one could have predicted the sonic gold mine they had hit upon.